“The flattish growth we saw in the second quarter was a temporary effect of the high earnings base in 2016 which was boosted by election-related spending. Moving forward, we continue to see robust growth across all our segments. This will be supported by the still vibrant domestic economy, strong growth in our export sales, and our continued investments in research and developments,” he added.

During the nine-month period, export sales grew 74 percent year-on-year, while the contribution of exports to total sales now stands at 25 percent from the 18 percent share in 2016.

“This represents a record high for the company. With the company’s partnerships with Ventura and Bunge maintaining pace, the food ingredients segment is now the biggest contributor to exports. The segment contributed 45 percent to total export sales compared with just 19 percent in full year 2016,” D&L said.